“We are going in one direction and the right direction, but it is quite frustrating. Football is about getting results and it’s quite frustrating as we may have to take a step back in order to be more consistent at the back.

"It’s something I don’t want to do, to play more counter-attacking, but I’m giving it serious thought. If I want to win 1-0 I think I can as I think it is one of the easiest things in football. It is not so difficult, as you don’t give players the chance to express themselves.”

It was Chelsea’s sixth defeat of the campaign and Mourinho looked back on the carelessness of the recent 3-2 reverse at Stoke City and the 1-0 defeat at Everton as he pondered how his team had left themselves open to a late sucker punch.

“They played very well. Once more the quality of football we produced was amazing. What we do when we have possession of the ball, the way we play, the way we create, the story repeats. It’s the same story of Stoke, of Everton and every match we’ve lost.

“We’ve never lost a match because we didn’t play or because the opponent was stronger than us, we lost every match because we produce, we don’t kill opponents, we give them life and every opponent that plays against us knows they can score a goal and change the true result.

“We play sometimes very well and have fantastic chances and don’t score. It’s the same story that repeats.”

Mourinho is irritated by comparisons with his first Chelsea side, which won the League Cup in two of his three full seasons in charge. But he feels that his present squad, despite their lack of killer instinct at both ends, are playing better football.

He added: “We played very well, that’s the only thing I can say. The way we build and create we are not behind that team people always like to compare [his previous Chelsea team], we are in front in terms of the quality of our game but football is about results, scoring goals and at this moment you see every game we don’t kill, we’re in trouble and sometimes we lose matches.